I + D / Textiles inteligentes y soluciones TIC
Year: January 2021 – June 2022
MOTIVATION
New trends and technologies are shaping a new concept of urban living, bringing with them profound change. In this sense, people’s relationship with their home will change radically, relying more and more on virtual assistants and interconnected devices.
The connected home is becoming a reality and although the technology is already available in most cases, the big challenge is to match it with real consumer demand. This vision of the future is still undoubtedly a way off because barriers such as high prices, usability, security concerns, and the lack of automated manufacturing still exist.
This R&D project aims to minimise mainly the latter, as embroidery technology will be used in the development of different smart textile solutions. This is a mature and effective technology for the integration of sensors, actuators, interconnection and energy transport in a multitude of textiles, as well as for the development of new technical textile structures with high added value.
OBJECTIVES
The use of home automation devices is not new. They were being marketed decades ago, although their use has mostly been limited to luxury or tech-savvy homes. However, the introduction and rise of the Internet of Things means the connected home promises to be a much more plausible reality. Future homes will be sensorised, guaranteeing a more comfortable and efficient lifestyle while providing numerous benefits: increased security, mobility and user comfort, healthcare and health needs, and leisure and entertainment.
The big challenge is not to develop new smart devices that are simply stored in our homes, but to get users to perceive the new functionalities of smart textiles as real needs. Furthermore, home automation must be user-friendly, easy to use, install and maintain, ubiquitous, but discreet and respect our privacy.
The main objective of the BRODER project is to carry out research and development of high added-value smart textiles using embroidery technology for home automation applications.
Four distinct but complementary lines of research are proposed for the development of smart textiles for home automation applications:
- Research and development of wireless power transmission systems using embroidered conductive yarn.
- Research and development of pressure/presence sensors integrated into textiles using conventional embroidery technology.
- Research and development of sequins incorporating advanced environmental sensors to automate the development of smart textiles.
- Research and development of textile loudspeakers which can play messages and even music.
The BRODER project will improve the industry’s capacity for innovation, thanks to research into the application of embroidery technology to create smart textiles in an automated way. This will be a scientific and technological advance both nationally and internationally.
EXPECTED RESULTS
The BRODER project addresses the research and development of smart textiles using embroidery technology for home automation applications.
This year, the aim is to continue research on the aforementioned lines in order to achieve results with higher performance.
The expected results include:
- Development of textile antennas for wireless energy transfer
- Development of textiles with the ability to detect distributed pressures/presence over a given area.
- Development of electronic sequins that allow the integration of sensors, actuators, connectors and switches.
- Development of sound-generating textile articles.
As a result of this research, the home automation system already developed in previous years will be updated to incorporate the new functionalities proposed in this project.
The knowledge created by this project will enable the development of different types of smart textiles in a more automated way. The automated manufacturing process will help create value-added textiles, enabling manufacturers interested in these technologies to broaden their product portfolio.
This project is funded by the Conselleria d’Economia Sostenible, Sectors Productius, Comerç i Treball de la Generalitat Valenciana, through IVACE, and is co funded by ERDF from the European Commission within the framework of the Operational Programme FEDER for the Comunitat Valenciana 2014-2020.
Additional information
- Grant number: IMDEEA/2021/31
- Amount: 217.172,37 €
- Year: 2021-2022
- Status: In progress
- Entity: IVACE
